Crossing Paths
by WandStoneCloak
Summary: Rodney and John crash with their Puddle Jumper in the Mountains of M3S-836.It's Storming, and nearby Volcanoes are active.John loses his memory and they are soon to be separated. Whumped and alone, they'll try to find each other again.Spoilers up to 518!
1. The Crash

_**Chapter I - Crash**_

The Puddle Jumper made its way steadily down towards the surface of the planet. John chuckled as they soared easily through the atmosphere. He loved exploring just that tad more when a Jumper was involved. Next to him, Rodney clutched the edge of his seat while checking the scanner for any sign of civilization. By now it was probably more a force of habit than real discomfort, but you could never be sure when it came to the Canadian Scientist.

The Ancient database had listed M3S-836 as a planet with five very friendly villages and three just as friendly tribes that were always interested in establishing trade-relations. The lack of any kind of air transportation kept them from accessing the space-gate, so all they had to offer was the food and technology they'd managed to come up with themselves.

"You know, this thing does have inertial dampeners", he pulled the Jumper so that they were now flying in a straight line towards what seemed like Mountains at least the size of K2 and the Mount Everest.

"It's just the thought of it. Plus, I was eating lunch when _you_ decided it was time for another trip through the gate. We've just been at M7G-677 yesterday."

John raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you're still mad I tricked you into that one? The kids were all so glad you showed your face."

"Oh ha ha", the Scientist looked back towards the screen and sighed. "Seems like they died out or got culled in the last 10'000 years. Wouldn't be the first time that has happened."

"Doctor, I just picked up a faint energy reading from... coming from a bit North of here", a female voice said shyly from behind, seconds later corrected by a male voice;

"That's South. I can't believe you with your Doctorates are supposed to be smarter than us."

"Hmm, that's probably just the Volcano we flew by earlier", Rodney said, without even glancing at them. John smirked:

"Don't tell me you miss Teyla and Ronon?"

"Oh come _on_. At least they don't point out the obvious", he said, slumping back into his seat. "How long is this festival thing of hers going on anyway, and why did you have to tell Ronon he had to accompany her."

"Because it's safer that way", John said smugly. "And they needed some time off."

"Aha, and I don't", scowling, Rodney poked at his screen and sat up instantly. "Hang on-"

The others stared at him while he poked at his screen a little more, deep in thought and, eventually, John spoke:

"Still hanging on here..."

"No, no, no, this can't be good", the Canadian just said. "McAllister, what exactly did those readings say again?"

Just as the girl was about to answer, Rodney hushed her by holding up one hand.

"Doesn't matter, got it here... no, just as I thought, this is bad, really, really bad-"

"_McKay!_", John said, with a bit more force in his voice, and the other man looked up, his mouth more lopsided than usual when he pointed at the horizon. John's eyes scanned for anything out o the ordinary, when he saw it. Building up rapidly in front of them were mountains of black clouds, just when the Jumper got hit by an enormous blast of wind that nearly threw them out of their seats. "What on earth-?"

Re-entry had felt like nothing at all, and a little bit of wind threw the Jumper from side to side? That was close to impossible, at least in John's eyes.

"See, _that_ is about ten times worse than the Millennium Storm we experienced in our first year on Atlantis. It probably wouldn't have been as bad if the volcanoes weren't erupting, too", Rodney said matter-of-factly, whilst reading rapidly through the pages of Data flashing up on the screen in front of him.

"Volcanoes? Sir?", the male voice behind them asked.

"Sgt. Morris, make sure that everything's fastened securely in the back hatch and then buckle up, we're in for a rough landing. Best is to wait it out, right Rodney?"

"Hmm", the Scientist responded with an irritated nod of the head. Right now, he felt insanely worried about the fact they'd chosen to take two newcomers with them to give them first experience points.

At least John was here to fly them safely to the ground.

He glanced up and for a moment he thought his vision had faded, until he noticed that the air was filled with thick fog and dusty particles. They were miles away from the two erupting volcanoes, but with the vast winds they were experiencing it didn't wonder him how this could be possible. It was pretty logic.

"Best thing is if we could find some sort of Cave, Sir", Sgt. Morris said as he sat back down again and fished for his seatbelt.

"Have you looked outside recently?", John said, using both his hands to stir the Jumper, wishing he had an extra pair for assistance. Something big hit the side of their left drive pod and they were thrown hard to the right. It all happened so fast that Rodney didn't even notice. Sgt. Morris flew through the air, smashing into John, who hit the front of the panel with a loud thump and slumped back into his seat unconsciously.

McAllister started screaming.

Rodney widened his eyes in horror as he looked around at what had happened. The two Military men both seemed to have lost their consciousness and if McAllister didn't stop screaming, he knew he'd be the cause of her following their faith, himself.

"Would you just _be quiet_", he snarled as he jumped out of his seat and grabbed the controls. Clenching his teeth, he tried to steady the Jumper as best as he possibly could and glanced back down at the Colonel. "Ah heck no. Sheppard? I could really need your help about now. Shep- _John_?", he nudged him slightly with one elbow, careful not to let go of the controls and bit his lip as he got no response. "Jennie, can you please just-"

"Already on it, Doctor", McAllister jumped out of her seat and hunched over Morris, feeling his pulse clumsily. _Already_ wasn't the word he'd have picked, but he bit down this remark and tried to concentrate on not crashing them down. After what seemed like an eternity in the Scientist's eyes, he turned around again, looking slightly irritated.

"I don't want to be rude, but having the Pilot back around now would be a good idea."

"I studied Medicine, but that doesn't mean I can work miracles. I changed into Science, remember? Or else I'd be hired by Doctor Keller now, not you."

Rodney rolled his eyes and shot her a very annoyed look. "Now is _not_ the time. If this is over I'll gladly let Keller hire you if that's what you prefer, now get them back."

"Morris is pretty out", she said, moving over to look at John.

What a great diagnosis, Rodney thought, biting his lip in concentration.

McAllister nodded. A deep gash above John's right eye, where he'd hit the panel, was bleeding, but apart from that he wasn't hurt. His pulse was steady. Hazel-green eyes fluttering open, the Colonel gave her a puzzled stare. Something hit the Jumper again, and with horror Rodney saw them plummeting towards the rocky ground below. They'd lost the second drive pod. McAllister had been smashed back against the hatch door while Rodney found himself in John's seat, on his lap, pressed against the American who looked up at him.

"Oh no. No, no, no, please tell me this is not happening! Sheppard...! John we-", he stood up again and grabbed the controls frantically. "It's useless, there's nothing left to… sit tight, we lost all control over the Jumper. We're going down."

Almost keeling over the DHD controls, he landed in his own seat and buckled up, he then bent forwards, put his head between his knees and closed his eyes.

_If this was how they were going to die..._

Tears were streaming down his face. He hadn't even noticed that he'd started to cry. He wasn't used to this. To not having a solution to a problem. To just sit here and wait for the horrible pain to crash in on them – and death. If it were to come, he hoped it wouldn't drag on and just wash them away.

Right about now.

Or... _now..._

He sighed. At least Teyla and Ronon weren't with them. At least they were safe.


	2. Lost

_**Chapter II - Lost**_

Rodney's eyes fluttered open. It was dark. The only thing keeping him from thinking he'd gone blind was the flickering of a small fire to the left of him. Sitting up, he unbuckled himself and tried to stand, but fell down onto the floor immediately. His left knee ached and he could feel a thick thumping against his head. How he hated headaches. Reaching up slowly, he felt his tempe just to touch something warm and sticky. Great, he was bleeding. He must have hit his head against his own knee. Typical. He got hold of the dialing controls and pulled himself forward so that he could crawl closer to the other chair. John was slumped into himself, still breathing, thank God, but obviously unconscious again.

"Oh great, that's just awesome", Rodney's eyes had found the place of the fire. The Flight Control Panels were burning. He crawled up in front of John but pulled back his left hand with a hiss as an unbearable pain soared through it. Holding it up he inspected it in the faint light of the fire and sighed. "Brilliant, my day couldn't get any better."

Smashed pieces of the control Christals were shattered all over the Jumper, and one piece, yes, had found its way right into Rodney's very own genius hand.

"What's going on?", a slurred voice came from up beside him. He turned his head to see the light reflecting from John's eyes and smiled faintly.

"We crashed. We crashed and now we're screwed", Rodney said. He closed his eyes and reached for the Christal with his right hand. Taking a deep breath, he pulled it out. A loud scream filled the night as he fell back onto the floor, shaking all over. The screaming wouldn't stop, and he realized, that it was him that made those awful sounds. Reaching up with his healthy hand, he pushed his fist into his mouth and calmed himself down. That one had been in deeper than he'd thought.

"Here", he heard the ripping sound of fabric and then two gentle hands wrapped something around his bleeding hand. Looking up, he saw John smiling down at him faintly, before the military man slumped right over, landing beside him. His right sleeve had been ripped in half.

"Thanks", Rodney said quietly. They were lying there for a while in silence, but it wasn't quiet. The storm outside was louder than the starting of a Space Shuttle and the Jumper was still shaking periodically.

"So", John said eventually, confused looking hazel-greens searching for blues. "Where are we?"

"P3X-836. And we're screwed."

John chuckled at that. "You're a very funny man Mister..."

"John?", Rodney's eyes filled with concern. "What's your name?"

"John."

"Your_ full _name."

The American looked past him into the darkness, face screwed up in concentration. His lower lip thrembled and then he hit his fist against the side of his seat angrily.

"It's there, it's... I can't reach it."

"What's my name? What's your rank?", but the Scientist already knew that he wouldn't receive an answer to those questions, either. "I'm Rodney McKay. Your friend. You're Ltd. Colonel John Sheppard, the leading Military Officer of Atlantis."

The eyes found his own and he whimpered. John looked so different, even though he was the same. He looked empty. Vulnerable. Somehow… _innocent_?

"It'll come back to you. It always does."

"Always...? It's happened before?"

Rodney could almost see the questioning look on the American's face, but the darkness didn't allow him to see more than a silhouette and the occasional flickering in his eyes.

"Not to you it hasn't", he shrugged and flinched almost immediately as the pain soared through his hand again. He shuddered and only now noticed how freezing it had really gotten. All Systems must have shut down when they'd crashed. His eyes wandered across the little cabin and settled onto a big pile of arms and legs. McAllister and Morris lay in one corner, huddled together. He frowned at their still and silent figures. "Hey, everything alright?"

John followed his gaze and got up on hands and knees, slowly making his way towards them.

"Careful, don't make the same mistake I did", Rodney whispered. He coughed and immediately corrected himself. "Well, it wasn't a mistake as much as an accident, it could have happened to anyone-"

"_Rodney_", John's voice said, almost back to its original familiarity. Or maybe it was just the reaction any John Sheppard would have given him. "He... she..."

"Jennie McAllister and Sgt. Andrew Morris", he said quickly, before the Colonel could get all worked up again.

"They're _dead_."

Rodney fell silent. He hadn't really thought of that yet. If he was alright, he'd assumed the others to be fine, too. Usually he was the one to get hurt in a situation like this. He couldn't remember anyone else ever having an arrow stuck in their Gluteus Maximus.

"They're..."

"Dead, yeah", John repeated, crawling back to kneel beside Rodney. "That adds to the discomfort."

The Scientist gently felt the ground around himself before pushing himself up on his healthy hand and review the situation. His eyes had finally adjusted themselves to the darkness. Behind the lifeless forms of their two companions he saw that the bulkhead doors were closed.

"We need to get to the back of the Jumper, the Medical kit should be there, and maybe I can try and re-rout some of the power so that we'll be able to stay warm in here until Woolsey sends a rescue team."

"Woolsey?", John's blank voice came from beside him. He sighed slightly, making his way towards the buttons beside the doors.

"He's the guy in charge."

"Of _Atlantis_", the Colonel said slowly.

"Hm."

Looking down upon the two figures the Scientist frowned. "We need to remove them. The Controls in here are completely out of juice, we'll have to try and open the bulkhead doors by force. Or well, you will, I'm kind of handicapped", he held up his left hand and John understood. He grabbed Ltd. Morris and quickly moved him to the side, doing the same with McAllister a moment after. He returned holding a long piece of metal that looked very much like the side of Rodney's seat.

"How did you?"

"Found it", John shrugged and forced the metal into the door, then hurled his body against it with full strength. The Jumper shook slightly, but eventually the doors gave in.

"Oh great, and I thought it couldn't get any worse", Rodney said, slowly moving through the back compartment towards the rear hatch – or at least where it was supposed to be – his knee aching bitterly with every step he took. They'd lost the hatch and half of their inventory during the crash and the icy cold winds blew straight into their faces.

"We could have been dead, too", John reached up and started rummaging through what was left. He smirked when his hands got hold of a couple of C4's and a P90. "Something tells me I should keep those close."

Joining him again, the Canadian frowned.

"You seem horribly fine with all this", he said drearily, "apart from the obvious, of course."

Though as bad as his head was thumping, his knee was aching and his hand… – he didn't even want to go into details there – he was glad that he'd at least kept his sanity and intelligence. Sheppard's memory loss wasn't of the kind he'd had, of course, but still, he didn't ever want to go down that pathway again.

**TBC**


	3. Way Down

**_Chapter III – Way Down_**

Rodney checked again and again, but there was just no way he could ever bring the Jumper back to life again. At least not without an external power source. Everything in here was fried. _Everything_.

On top of that they kept being pushed down onto the floor whenever the Jumper shook, and that really didn't help Rodney's progress much.

"I got everything you told me to pack. Except for the Teranol, a bunch of other painkillers and a couple of patches I didn't find anything other medical you asked for, I assume it's scattered outside somewhere, but good luck looking for it", John was standing beside him now, one backpack shouldered, P90 to his side and holding up the other backpack for him. Rodney raised his eyebrows.

"You don't seriously think I'm in any shape to go out there. Now or anytime soon. We should stay here and wait for rescue. I can probably modify our radios and boost their signal so that it can penetrate the storm-"

"Yeah, yeah you mentioned that, which is why I packed them. I don't trust this thing. It seems unstable", as if to prove his point, the material around them creaked loudly and the ground beneath their feet vibrated heavily, forcing them to sit down.

The Canadian didn't think he'd have ever seen the day coming that Lt. Colonel John Sheppard didn't trust in one of his holy flying machines. From a distance they heard a loud rumbling sound through the deafening winds.

"It's not just the Jumper that's become unstable. We're nowhere near any of the volcanoes, but I think the restlessness of the earth around us must be causing avalanches and rock-slides... out there however, we're practically target practice for mother nature."

John sighed loudly, pushing the backpack into his friend's stomach.

"Don't be such a pessimist all the time, Rodney. Try and see the glass half full for a change."

The American fell silent for a moment, thinking.

"This is nice", he finally said, his voice dripping with irony.

Rodney looked up, waiting, but no further explanation came.

"What is?"

"Well this. On top of everything I somehow know I should be able to handle the situation without a problem, but here I am, clueless as to whether I'll even remember how to shoot my P90 if the time comes. And I make these remarks about you, that come so naturally – but once they're out I sit here trying to remember, remember things that are _just_ out of reach."

"I know what you mean", he said quietly. He wasn't sure if John had heard him. Pulling up the hood of his jacket, he stared out into the darkness. "Right", he raised his voice and stood up, balancing more on his right leg as he did so. "Let's try and find our Cave then. And you carry me if I pass out, which I probably will since you didn't even let me finish my meal earlier and I'm starting to feel weaker by the minute. These injuries would probably put any other man down for weeks, I'm not saying I-"

"Just… shut up and get ready", John said, trusting a flashlight at Rodney. "I promise I'll carry you if you pass out – or I'll just dig you a dying hole… did I ever tell you that you remind me of Melman?"

"Oh ha ha, _very_ funny, I see what you're getting at! And you are Alex of course", the scientist strapped his backpack tightly around his shoulders and tucked in the gun John had picked out for him earlier, then switched on his flashlight and pointed it at his friend's face. John was biting his lower lip. Rodney understood. "Madagascar", he explained, "it's a movie they showed not too long ago back on Atlantis. You and Ronon had a lot of fun, laughing loudly and eating all the popcorn, blocking our – _my_ sight and of course ruining my evening because I was stuck behind two morons all the way through-"

"Sorry."

"Oh well… that really doesn't matter anymore now", Rodney shrugged, now pointing his flashlight outside. "But thanks."

* * *

As soon as they'd left the safety of their Jumper, Rodney wished he'd never given in. Even if the fog didn't prevent them from seeing further than a few steps ahead, the darkness would have. Their flashlights were practically useless. Snow mixed with dusty particles was whirling through the air, making their eyes sting, and the air was freezing, almost as cold as back in McMurdo. At least the painkillers worked their wonders and he was feeling close to no pain anymore. The only thing reminding him of his injuries were the stiffness of his left leg, where John had wrapped his knee just in case, and the slight thumping in his hand. Come to think of it, his whole left side was somewhat handicapped. He reached up to touch his head automatically. The blood had made the injury look worse than it actually was. John had told him it was just a little cut, compared to the pilot's injury nothing at all.

"How high do you suspect we are!?", John shouted, the big patch on his forehead already of a crimson colour. He could have really used a skin welding laser.

Last thing Rodney had read they were at about 2'000 metres, which wasn't too bad, but high enough to be lethal if something were to happen to them. Up here there was no chance they could ever get any help, he doubted highly that _if_ there was still life on this planet, that the people would build their villages this high up, when they could build them anywhere else they wanted. Plus he also doubted that rock-slides and avalanches were only happening because of the storm, which probably didn't really invite people to build their homes here, either. Oh, he shouldn't have let his mind wander off like that. The thought of being stuck underneath several feet of snow, was terrifying him. Neither did he feel comfortable at the thought of being smacked to death by a giant rock.

"High enough to become the next Ötzi – you know, the Similaun Mummy they found a few years back, well preserved by the ice up in the Mountains… come to think of it, didn't he die of a blow to the head?", the scientist shuddered.

"Well _I _don't know, you tell me."

"I'm pretty sure he did", Rodney continued, somehow glad they'd at least found something to talk about. Walking in silence only made him think about how doomed they were. "As a matter of fact Carson once told me that Ötzi was supposedly cursed since four of the seven main people connected to the discovery died since. Of course, sounds a lot like Voodoo to me, probably derived from all those stories surrounding the cursed Pharao mummies, though Daniel Jackson said-"

"_McKay_! why don't you tell me something cheerful for a change", John looked gloomily out from under his hood.

But it was impossible for them to get back to the talking for the next little while, since the way in front of them was cut off by a steep stone wall and John was forced to walk in front of Rodney. There was no way around it, so they had to double back and try and figure out whether the Mountain had any other hidden ways for them to descend.

Rodney didn't know how long they'd walked when the night finally turned to day. Having pulled up some data earlier, he knew that the planet's days lasted 36 hours, and that night time lasted for about fifteen, so they were in for a very long day – 21 hours to be precise.

When the fog finally cleared up and it stopped to snow, they could make out that they, indeed, were halfway up a mountain. The fastest way down would be to walk a few hundred metres to their right and then go down in a slight slope. There was no cave in sight and best would be just to get off the mountain and find shelter in the valley below. They weren't due to check back for at least another six hours, and once Atlantis would send a team to investigate and that team would return with a scan of the planet's surface that was no doubtedly covered with this massive storm front by now, Woolsey would send for Ronon and Teyla and have them, together with Lorne's men and maybe another unit, standing by.

"At least we know how to get down there, the way looks safe enough", John said. He unwrapped a power bar and bit into it hungrily, immediately pulling a face. "What _is_ this?"

"Banana, that's pretty much the only flavour you hate", Rodney took his own powerbar and held it up in front of the Colonel, who wrinkled his nose and eyed it suspiciously. "Go on, it's your favourite. Vanilla Crisp."

With a thankful gesture he accepted the power bar and took a bite. Indeed, this was much better. He took pity on Rodney, who was now stuck with a horrible Banana flavoured one, but the scientist didn't seem to mind and devoured it with big chomps.

"Anyway, we'll have to see if it's really gonna be as easy as it looks", he said eventually, after licking the crumbs off his lips. "I've watched enough Discovery Channel to know that there could be anything hidden underneath what looks like a perfectly stable snow cover. Thin layers of ice for example that, when you step on them, they give in and you'll fall a few hundred metres to your death."

"Again with the pessimism!", the other man growled.

"You'll thank me for the warnings if you hear the ground beneath you creak!", and with that he started to walk again, his injured leg preventing him from taking up a pace that would have let him make a more impressive departure. He hoped John understood the general meaning anyway.

**TBC**


End file.
